1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to filters comprising nanopores and methods of filtering nanoparticles.
2. Description of the Related Art
Devices and methods for filtering nanoparticles can be used in a variety contexts. For example, over the past decade there has been much interest in the isolation and study of exosomes and other biological particles (vesicles, viruses, DNA, etc.) with nanometer sizes. Due in part to the unavailability of effective nanometer scale filtration options, current techniques to isolate such particles rely on chemical techniques or the use of ultra high speed (greater than 100,000 g) centrifugation. Such techniques are non-specific and physically damaging (such as centrifugation) or must be tailored to each particle (such as chemical or antibody binding approaches). In addition to biological nanoparticles, improved nanometer scale filters will find use in many other contexts where separation of particles by size is desired. These include, for example, protein filtration, dialysis, water filtration, as well as many industrial contexts.